Process for the production of steel structural shapes

ABSTRACT

Steel structural shapes such as &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;H,&#39;&#39;&#39;&#39; &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;I,&#39;&#39;&#39;&#39; and channel beams are cold fabricated by progressively deforming welded seam steel tubing made from hot or cold rolled steel in a welded tube mill, the structural shapes being closed curves in section and having web portions of two adjacent thicknesses with flange portions at each end thereof.

United States Patent 1151 3,698,224 Saytes [4 1 Oct. 17, 1972 [54] PROCESS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF 1,779,185 10/1930 Meiser et al ..72/178 STEEL STRUCTURAL SHAPES 3,256,670 6/1966 Tersigni ..52/729 426,558 4/1890 Dithridge ..52/729 [72] Q San, Maracabm 2,085,829 7/1937 Rogers ..29/155 a 999,467 8/1911 Sack ..72/178 [73] Assignee: Siderurgica Occidental C.A.,

Mara ib Venezuela Primary Examiner-Lowell A. Larson v Attorney-Peter L. Taller 122] l'llcd: Nov. l6, 1970 21 Appl. No.: 89,603 [57] ABSTRACT Steel structural shapes such as H, l, and channel Related Apphcamn Data beams are cold fabricated by progressively deforming [63] Continuation of Ser. No. 821,843, May 5, welded seam steel tubing made from hot or cold rolled 1969, abandoned. steel in a welded tube mill, the structural shapes being closed curves in section and having web portions of [52] U.S. Cl. ..72/ 178, 29/155 R two j en hickn e with flange p r ions at each [51 Int. Cl. ..B2ld 47/00 end thereof- [58] Field of Search ..72/178, 225, 367; 29/155 R, 29/480; 52/729 [56] References Cited 1 Claim, 22 Drawing Figures UNITED STATES PATENTS 991,603 5/1911 Brooks ..52/729 93 iii 92 I 48 1' i I! 1 55: 91 515 v5 96 In PmmEnnmnm 3,698,224 SHEET 1 OF 4 I NVE NTOR I ADAM ERIC SAYTES 3295 Wei/m ATTORNEY PATENTEDum 11 I972 sum 2 BF 4 INVENTOR.

ADAM ERIC SAYTES ATTORNEY PATENTEDHBT 1 1 I9 2 3. 6 98 224 sum 3 BF 4 I I 559,15 INVENTOR:

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ADAM ERIC SAYTES Milli! PROCESS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF STEEL STRUCTURAL SHAPES CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 821,843 filed May 5, 1969, and now abandoned.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Hot rolled steel structural shapes in the form of I, H, and channel beams having a solid cross section are old and well known. The hot forming rolling mill equipment required to form these conventional shapes is complex and costly. Highly trained and skilled personnel are required to operate this complex equipment.

This invention may be practiced in conjunction with well known and easily operated welded tube mills which only involve cold forming operations including the welding of the tube seam. According to this invention, the cold formed circular welded tubing is further cold formed by progressive deformations to produce superior structural shapes. These shapes, I beams, H beams, and channels, have web portions formed from two touching thicknesses of the deformed tube wall with contiguous upper and lower flanges of these shapes being substantially triangular. Thus the closed curve of a section through a structural shape of this invention comprises two touching thicknesses forming a central web having substantially triangular loops at the ends thereof to form flanges. The tube is preferrably deformed so that its welded seam is at the center of the web at a location subjected to minimum stresses.

Not only is the production of the structural shapes of this invention rapid, but the productive facilities required are far less costly than a conventional rolling mill. In addition, once set up, production may be carried out by relatively unskilled workers. The structural shapes of this invention have a particularly high strength to weight ratio as a result of their hollowflange portions.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIGS. 1-3 are, respectively, diagrammatic perspective views of a slitting stage, a preforming stage, and a forming and welding stage of a welded tube mill;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of mountings for rollers for the progressive deformation of welded steel tubing into the structural shapes of this invention;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a cut off unit for the structural shapes of this invention;

FIG. 6 is a section through an H beam according to this invention;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the end of the H" beam of FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 is a transverse section through a length of welded steel tubing from a conventional welded tube mill which may be progressively deformed into the structural shapes of this invention;

FIGS. 9-16 show the progressive deformation by sets of rollers of the tube of FIG. 8 into the H beam of FIGS. 6 and 7;

FIGS. 17 and 18 show a clampand .knifefor cutting off the structural shape of FIGS. 6 and 7;

FIG. 19 is a transverse section through an I" beam according to this invention;

FIG. 20 is a transverse section through a channel according to this invention;

FIG. 21 is a perspective view ofthe endof the channel of FIG. 20;and,

FIG. 22 is a transverse section through a T according to this invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED Embodiments referring to the: Drawing in detail, FIG. 1 shows a coil 30mounted on a holder 31. Coil 30 may be of hot or cold rolled steel from about 0.5 to 5 mm. thick. Sheet stock 32 is drawn from coil 30 through slitter 33 from which strips of sheet stock 34 slit to a desired width are rolled into slit coils 35 by winder 36.

As shown in FIG. 2, the slit coils 35 may be joined and wound on a large reel 37. Referring now to FIG. 3, suitable mountings 38 support pairs of vertical and horizontal motor driven rollers of hardened steel. These rollers(not shown) progressively deform the strip .34 until its edges meet. The mountings 38 for these preforming rollers are bolted to a table 39 or a like rigid support. The abutting edges of strip 34 are welded by any suitable welder 40 and passed through a cooling water spray at 41. All the foregoing elements, as described, are well known and constitute a tube mill for the production of welded seam. tubing 44 as shown in FIG. 8. Tubing 44 has a wall 45 of uniform thickness formed from the strip 34 which has its abutting edges 46 and 47 welded at 48. Weld 487' should be substantially the thickness of the strip 34 of wall 35.

FIG. 4 shows mountings 51-58 fixed to an extension of table 39. The mountings 51-58 support, respectively, the sets of vertically mounted rollers 61-68 and the sets of horizontally mounted rollers 71-78 shown in FIGS. 9-16 progressively deforming the round tube 44 into an H beam structural shape 59. H beam 59 is shown in FIGS. 6 and 7. The H beam 59 has a central web 60 of two adjacent, substantially touching, and parallel thicknesses 69 and 70, one of which contains the weld 48 in its center. The flanges 79 of H beam 59 are best formed to be substantially triangular in shape with flat upper and lower portions 80 normal to web 60 and with inner portions 81 and 82 sloping toward the web 60. The outer edges 83 of the flanges 79 are best slightly rounded to avoid and distribute stresses which would otherwise be concentrated at these points.

In the progressive deformation of the round tube 44 into an H beam 59, the sides of the tube 44, one of which contains weld 48, are bent inward and flattened until they touch to form central web 60. At the same time, the flanges 79 are formed. At least one of each three sets of rollers 61-68 and 71-78 should be driven by any suitable means(not shown). It is particularly desirable to drive the last set of rollers 68 shown in FIG. 16 as they may bear heavily inward against the touching thicknesses 69 and 70 of web 60 to provide superior traction. It is to be noted that the particular sets of forming rollers shown and their configurations are merely illustrative of the types which may be used.

FIG. shows a cut off unit for the H beam structural shape 59. FIG. 17 shows a pair of clamps 86 and 87 which engage beam 59 to allow the shear blade 88, shown in FIG. 18, to make a clean cut off with a minimum amount of distortion at the cut off ends.

FIG. 19 shows an I beam 90 which is made by the cold working progressive deformation of round welded steel tubing substantially in the same manner as that shown and described for I-I" beam 59. I beam 90 has weld 48 in the center of one of the adjacent thicknesses 91 and 92 which form the web 93. The smaller flanges 94 of beam 90 are substantially triangular in shape with flat outer edges 95 normal to web 93 and with two inward sloping inner surfaces 96 extending from each outer edge or surface 95. The corners or edges of the flanges 94 are slightly rounded to reduce stress.

FIGS. and 21 show a channel 100 according to this invention which is formed by the progressive cold deformation of round welded steel tubing. Channel 100 has a central web 101 of inner and outer substantially touching thicknesses 102 and 103. The inner thickness 102 contains the weld 48 so that it will be in an area of minimum stress. The flanges 105 of channel 100 are substantially triangular with flat outer surfaces 106. Each flange 105 has a single sloping inner surface 107. The ends or continuations 108 of the outer thickness 103 of web 101 form one leg of the triangular flanges 105.

FIG. 22 shows a T shape 110 which may be fabricated according to this invention. A tube 44 is progressively deformed to form the shape which has a substantially triangular lower flange 111 and an upstanding web 112 containing weld 48 at its uppermost end.

The structural shapes of this invention may be painted or coated in any desired manner.

While this invention has been shown and described in the best form known, it will nevertheless be understood that this is purely exemplary and that modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention except as it may be more limited in the appended claims.

Iclaim:

l. The process of cold forming structural steel shapes having transverse sections of closed curves forming I beams, comprising the steps of a. cold forming a steel strip by rolling the strip through rollers until its edges meet;

b. continuously welding the edges of the strip to cold form a welded tube containing a single longitudinal weld;

c. passing the round welded steel tube with its longitudinal weld on one side through successive forming rollers to progressively deform the tube by forcing its side portions together forming a web of arallel touching thicknesses of the wall of said ube while flattening its top and bottom surfaces to form triangular flanges above and below said web, the single longitudinal weld being disposed substantially in the center of one of the sides of the tube forming the web;

d. clamping the I beam structural shape thus formed between two clamps which correspond to its outer profile; and

e. passing a shear blade adjacent to the clamps cutting off lengths of the I beam. 

1. The process of cold forming structural steel shapes having transverse sections of closed curves forming ''''I'''' beams, comprising the steps of a. cold forming a steel strip by rolling the strip through rollers until its edges meet; b. continuously welding the edges of the strip to cold form a welded tube containing a single longitudinal weld; c. passing the round welded steel tube with its longitudinal weld on one side through successive forming rollers to progressively deform the tube by forcing its side portions together forming a web of parallel touching thicknesses of the wall of said tube while flattening its top and bottom surfaces to form triangular flanges above and below said web, the single longitudinal weld being disposed substantially in the center of one of the sides of the tube forming the web; d. clamping the ''''I'''' beam structural shape thus formed between two clamps which correspond to its outer profile; and e. passing a shear blade adjacent to the clamps cutting off lengths of the ''''I'''' beam. 